Vintage Rye.

Found: A collection of Catcher in the Rye covers in a variety of languages, from HERE. Oh, J.D…. R.I.P.

Some favorites:

Vintage smoking ads from lamarde

qua-Velvet recently tweeted about lamarde, thus introducing me to the fabulous world of vintage cigarette advertising and packaging. There’s a reason we have so many unfortunate people addicted to nicotine: the advertising was glamourous, beautiful, and downright awesome in terms of design execution. Despite my devotion to all things design-related (which, yes, includes my appreciation for pro-smoking ads), I still feel compelled to state that I abhor cigarettes and their disastrously horrific effects on the body (and on innocent bystanders’ bodies). I have a step-father who is currently battling stage IV lung cancer. Meanwhile, my mother won’t stop lighting up, despite the smoking-induced tragedy barely breathing next to her. I am, in other words, not a fan of smoking.

But I am a fan of great design. And of lamarde’s beautiful gallery of advertisements, which is where I found all of the images posted below. Enjoy. These are some of my favorites:

Visit lamarde’s blog HERE. Follow lamarde on Twitter HERE.

Vintage designs for Olivetti

I am definitely digging these vibrant vintage designs that I found over at Ninonbooks, which were created for Olivetti typewriter and calculator ads in the 1950s and ’60s.

Aren’t they great? I kind of want to own every single one of those machines, please. More HERE.

Enamo(RED)

intage and modern typography designs that glorify the color red blanket me in holiday warmth. All drool-inducing images below have been graciously borrowed from the always fabulous WeLoveTypography.com, where you can search typographic images by color. Which is how I found these little gems.

(The Ohioan in me couldn’t resist this one)

Vintage Italian graphic designs

From laura@popdesign’s Flickr set:

See and Say & The Ward-o-Matic

ow did I not know about The Ward-o-Matic until now?!? I just discovered JunkCulture, too (see their button in my right column). Whenever a mind-blowing discovery such as these two occur, I feel shaken (not stirred) to the core and kind of like, “How did my life exist prior to knowing this?!” That’s exactly how I feel about stumbling upon illustrator (and retro-connoisseur) Ward Jenkins’ blog and website. AND he’s the husband of HulaSeventy?!? WTF?!? How am I so out of the loop?!? What the hell have I been doing with myself?!?

Anyway, thanks to The Ward-o-Matic, I found these little gems: images of Antonio Frasconi‘s illustrations from the children’s book See and Say: A Picture Book in Four Languages (1955). You’re welcome.

More illustrations and a lovely feature on Antonio Frasconi and See and Say (his first book!) on The Ward-o-Matic HERE.

(ps: Obsessed like me? Follow the Ward-ster on Twitter HERE)

Throwback Thursday: Film Packaging

Vintage film packaging borrowed from Maraid’s Flickr stream:

Wordshop Wednesday: Linea Carta!

Linea Carta is the brainchild of Diva Pyari, an artist, calligrapher, and designer living in Northern California. Her beautifully illustrated gift tags and uniquely elegant calligraphy are sights to behold. I particularly enjoy beholding the Italian influence on her creations. 🙂

All images below are either taken from her website or her Etsy shop, both of which I encourage you to visit soon and frequently. Enjoy!

Alphabet gift tags:

Calligraphy:

Letterpress:

Pencil cases that I need to buy: